My wife, which is of foreign nationality - and also the mother of my South African child - wanted to open a bank account at Standard Bank, in order to get her salary paid out to her. Her visa, which was valid for two more years at the time, stated that she was allowed to stay in the country provided that she was in an relationship with me and she was only allowed to work at my family business and nowhere else. She obviously had to show her visa to the consultant, who then concluded that she couldn't get a bank account because the visa would say that she could only stay in the country as long as her husband was working at his company (seriously??? :-s). She then told him, that this assumption wouldn't make any sense. Why would the validity of the visa be based on where her South African husband works? She then asked the consultant to please speak to someone who would be able to help in this regard. The consultant then went to the lady of foreign exchange (seriously??? :-s). After this experience I cancelled my Standard Bank bank account and my wife and I successfully opened each a bank account at ABSA.
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